SEC Football: Bold Predictions for 2015 Fall Camp
Pads are about to pop, and fall camps are about to get underway.
Fall camps are here, and with them will come some incredibly intense position battles that will define the seasons for some of the nation's top teams.
What will happen in August?
Our bold predictions based on spring progress, position depth, talent and scheme are in this slideshow.
David Cornwell Will Be Named Alabama's Starting QB
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Jake Coker will enter fall camp as the No. 1 quarterback option for Alabama head coach Nick Saban and offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, but hot on the senior's heels is redshirt freshman David Cornwell.
Cornwell will not only push Coker; he'll pass him and win the job in fall camp.
This would be a big departure for Alabama, which has let its last two quarterback battles—AJ McCarron vs. Phillip Sims in 2011 and Coker vs. Blake Sims in 2014—last into the season.
Cornwell, a 6'5", 240-pounder from Norman, Oklahoma, has a big arm. He can make the difficult throws from sideline to sideline and is more mobile than he looks—although his mobility from high school could be limited after ACL and ankle surgeries.
"David is a bright guy," Saban said at SEC media days. "He has a great understanding of the offense. He's a very good passer and a very accurate passer. I think that understanding the speed of the game and processing information quickly and making quick decisions and getting the ball out of your hand and doing it accurately is probably the thing that all quarterbacks gain understanding of. How quickly he does that will determine how quickly he can become the guy."
He will draw even by mid-August and win the job the week prior to kickoff against Wisconsin.
Florida Cornerback Jalen Tabor Will Be the Next Big Thing
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Vernon Hargreaves III dominates headlines in Florida's defensive backfield, but his fellow cornerback mates are certainly worthy of receiving supporting-actor consideration.
Jalen Tabor, specifically.
The 6'1", 195-pound sophomore from Washington, D.C., had one pick last year but should see significant action either as the primary No. 2 or nickel corner in new defensive coordinator Geoff Collins' system.
Tabor has tremendous leaping ability and great ball skills, and he is physical at the line of scrimmage, which should earn him the starting nod this fall as teams—including the Gators this summer in fall camp—shy away from "Hargreaves Island."
Auburn RB Roc Thomas Will Surprise
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Jovon Robinson is the odds-on favorite to become the new No. 1 running back at Auburn, after the junior college transfer dominated the junior college ranks at Georgia Military College over the last two seasons.
Keep one eye on sophomore Roc Thomas, though.
The true sophomore former "Mr. Football" in the state of Alabama rushed for 214 yards and two touchdowns in limited work last year, and he showed flashes of the electricity that made him a top-tier running back coming out of high school.
The knock against Thomas is that he tries to dance a little too much, but in the spring game, he looked much more like an all-around back, hitting holes with authority and getting north-south better than he did during his freshman campaign.
If that continues, the final hurdle to earning the starting spot will be pass blocking, which is something that all of Auburn's running backs need to work on.
Thomas will clear that hurdle and, with his home run ability and new north-south prowess, will be Auburn's starting running back from the moment that toe meets leather in the Georgia Dome against Louisville.
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LSU Won't Name a Starting QB
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LSU opens its season with McNeese State, and that cupcake prior to big games versus Mississippi State and Auburn in Weeks 2 and 3, respectively, is a perfect spot for head coach Les Miles to settle his quarterback battle on the field.
I've been firmly entrenched in sophomore Brandon Harris' camp as far back as last year, but the Bossier City, Louisiana, native couldn't beat out Anthony Jennings save for one ill-fated start on the road at Auburn.
Harris couldn't win the job this spring, didn't seem to move the meter all that much while Jennings has been out this summer on indefinite suspension following an arrest and should enter fall camp neck-and-neck with Jennings after Jennings was reinstated to the football program on Friday following felony charges being dropped.
If Harris hasn't separated enough to earn true front-runner status at this point, it's unlikely that he will during fall camp.
Jennings and Harris will both get snaps against McNeese State, and the best man will start the following week in Starkville against the Bulldogs.
Georgia's Leonard Floyd Will Play More ILB Than OLB
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It's no secret that Georgia head coach Mark Richt and defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt want to get talented outside linebackers Jordan Jenkins, Lorenzo Carter and Leonard Floyd on the field at the same time. It appears now that we know how they plan to do it.
Floyd, a stud outside star over the last couple of years in Athens, was listed as the co-starter at "Sam" linebacker with Carter, as well as a co-starter with Reggie Carter at "Mike" (h/t B/R's Brian Pedersen).
"You see him in two spots on the depth chart for a reason," Richt said, according to Jason Butt of Macon.com. "He’s very versatile. He can play inside; he can play outside. He’s played in the nickel, out in space some before. A guy that can run like that, got the length he has, the physical nature of play in the box, there just aren’t many guys like that."
He'll see a lot of time in August inside for a couple of reasons. He's clearly going to be there at times this fall, and Pruitt will want to see how the defense clicks with all three studs on the field at the same time. That way, he'll be able to experiment, try different things with his pass rush and see how well Floyd can hold up inside when they go "ones vs. ones," and he has running back Nick Chubb coming right at him.
Connor Mitch Will Be Named South Carolina's Starting QB on Aug. 22
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Connor Mitch is the presumed front-runner in the three-man battle to be South Carolina's starting quarterback over Perry Orth and Michael Scarnecchia. So, picking him to win the job in fall camp isn't exactly going out on a limb.
I'm going to give you a date, though—Aug. 22.
South Carolina will hold a scrimmage that morning according to the camp schedule emailed by the university, which gives the staff plenty of time to review tape from the scrimmage and name a starter in the afternoon.
The Gamecocks open the season on Thursday, Sept. 3, in Charlotte, North Carolina, against North Carolina, and the eventual winner needs that week-and-a-half to get unquestioned first-team snaps. It will be Mitch, and he'll win the job with a fine performance in what likely will be South Carolina's final scrimmage before the season.
Chad Kelly Will Be Named Ole Miss Starting QB by Aug. 17
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Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze has been adamant that sophomore Ryan Buchanan is the leader at the turn in the three-man quarterback battle that includes fellow sophomore DeVante Kincade and junior college transfer Chad Kelly.
Who's he kidding, though? This is Kelly's job, and he'll win it by mid-camp.
"I said after spring I thought Ryan was a little ahead of the other two, but the margin was so small that it certainly could be overcome," Freeze said at SEC media days. "It may be two weeks into fall camp that it's obvious, or it may be two games into the season before it's made, but I'm not going to put myself in a box on that."
Kelly, a dual-threat star from East Mississippi Community College and former Clemson Tiger, is a perfect fit for Freeze's offense, ran a similar system last season en route to a junior college national title and needs just a little more time in a camp-like setting to earn the trust of his new teammates and coaches.
That time will come early, and Freeze will make sure that his offense is clicking on all cylinders during the two tuneups to open the season prior to the big road trip to Alabama in Week 3.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports. Statistics courtesy of cfbstats. Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on Sirius 93 XM 208.
Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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